RMT STEPS UP BUS CAMPAIGN

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2011 :: RMTnews 13 Funding to bus services have faced a triple whammy of the threat to abolish the national Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG), the huge squeeze on local authority budgets and changes in the funding arrangements for concessionary fares. The union has already achieved some success joining with the Campaign for Better Transport and a number of other organisations, including bus companies and user groups, to lobby the Bus Minister and MPs to protect BSOG. In the end the 20 per cent reduction in BSOG was far less than many feared. But when the reduction is combined with the other attacks on funding the implications could be serious. RMT will be submitting evidence to the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee inquiry into the future of the buses, which is seeking evidence on the impact of the reduction in Bus Service Operators’ Grant, including on community transport and the impact of the reduction in local authority grant support to bus services and other changes to the funding of local authority bus schemes and services by the Department for Transport. The committee has also said it will be seeking evidence on the implementation and financial implications of free off-peak travel for elderly and disabled people on all local buses anywhere in England under the Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007. It looks like the Committee’s ongoing inquiry will also overlap with the RMT Parliamentary Bus seminar to take place on February 1 2011. The seminar is already attracting considerable interest amongst bus workers and members of parliament. As well as the Bus Minister Norman Baker MP attending, RMT general secretary Bob Crow and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport Maria Eagle MP, key speakers include the Director of the Passenger Transport Executive Group, Jon Bray, and the Director of the Campaign for Better Transport, Stephen Joseph. The seminar will be seeking to make the case for the bus, develop a broad coalition against the cuts to bus services and argue for the alternatives. RMT PARLIAMENTARY BUS SEMINAR DEFENDING BUS SERVICES Date: February 1, 2011 Time: 1400 hours to 1600 hours Venue: Committee Room 10, House of Commons The union and RMT’s parliamentary group of MPs will be holding a seminar in the House of Commons to discuss the future of the bus industry in the light of the government’s draconian Spending Review this month Bus services and jobs are under serious threat with cuts to local authority funding and the possible withdrawal of the national bus subsidy and support for concessionary fares. The government is reviewing the future of the only direct national funding for bus services – Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) – and may scrap it completely. The grant is a rebate to bus operators on the fuel duty they pay. Operators who run local registered bus services are reimbursed for the major part of the tax paid on the fuel used in operating these services. These also include many rural, school and socially important services and the grant is also increasingly important to community transport providers. Angela Smith MP has already put down Early Day Motion 402 warning that if government support for bus services were to be withdrawn it would lead to substantial fare increases, service reductions and job losses. The seminar will be considering these issues and how to best set out a positive agenda for bus services, passengers and bus workers. RMT general secretary Bob Crow will be speaking at the seminar, together with Bus Minister Norman Baker MP, public transport campaigners, Passenger Transport Associations and campaigning groups. All Members of Parliament will be invited to the seminar. The seminar will be widely advertised and RMT would like to encourage the maximum possible attendance from RMT members and particularly bus members. Support for attendance is a legitimate item of expenditure from Branch funds. RMT moves up a gear in its campaign to protect the bus services from ConDem austerity cuts RMT STEPS UP CAMPAIGN AGAINST BUS CUTS